Paul Abbandonato: It's Gareth Bale 2-1 Scotland

Wow, wow, wow... and wow again. What do we say about that then?

Wow, wow, wow... and wow again. What do we say about that then? Well how about Gareth Bale 2 Scotland 1.

Wales' talismanic superstar produced one of the greatest individual performances we have seen from anyone wearing the famous red shirt in the 130-plus years of Welsh international football to inspire the most unlikely of comebacks for Chris Coleman's side on a night full of raw passion at Cardiff City Stadium.

I don't mean to be flippant, of course, about this being a one-man show, because Wales produced a gutsy team display to get their World Cup campaign up and running and last and ease the pressure on their under-fire manager.

But, put simply, victory would not have been delivered without the brilliance of Bale, whose magnificence shone like a beacon throughout.

First, with Wales trailing to a James Morrison opener for Scotland, Bale hauled his team back into the game with a stunning run past four defenders, before he was bundled over in the box. Bale got up, dusted himself down and calmly grabbed the equaliser from the penalty spot himself.

With two minutes to go, Bale was at it again, this time rifling a a stunning 20-yard drive past a helpless Allan McGregor in the Scotland goal to deliver the three points for the Dragons.

You will struggle to find adjectives adequete enough to describe just how good Bale was. Put simply, it was a 10 out of 10 performance and suddenly, as a result of his efforts, Wales can go to Croatia on Tuesday night in better spirits.

Defeat, or even just a draw here in the Welsh capital, any any hopes of Rio 2014 really would have been done and dusted. The chances of qualifying for Brazil are still very slim, with Belgium and Croatia beginning to take a bit of a stranglehold on Group A, but with Bale in their ranks Wales will always have hope.

Put it this way, the Croatian defenders won't fancy lining up against him after they study a video tape of this 90 minutes.

Coleman sprang a couple of surprises with his team selection, opting to give teenage Swansea full-back Ben Davies his Wales debut and also plucking Crystal Palace reserve Lewis Price out of international wilderness and into the goalkeeping jersey.

It was a huge double gamble for a manager under the type of pressure Coleman was facing going into such a big match, but he was comfortable enough with his choices and adamant he was doing the right thing.

The manager's goalkeeping options were somewhat limited anyway, with the alternatives to Price being Jason Brown, who has been in the cold this season with Aberdeen, and Owain Fon Williams, whose club football is with little Tranmere Rovers in League One. Price hadn't started a competitive Wales match since a 2-1 victory in San Marino four years ago...but Coleman decreed he was the best bet of the trio to stem any Scottish goal threat.

As for Davies, Coleman has been hugely impressed with the way the 19-year-old has gone about his Premier League business as Neil Taylor's understudy with Michael Laudrup's Swans and chose his youth, endeavour and current top flight status over the experience of Sam Ricketts, whose Bolton side have been struggling at the wrong end of the Championship.

Davies was certainly going to grow up very quickly in this enviroment, because even though these were two struggling teams, the Battle of Britain element to the match ensured a rip-roaring atmosphere, thousand upon thousand of Scots descending upon Cardiff City Stadium and making such a din they could have been mistaken for the home fans.

Great support the Tartan Army may have offered, but you could have heard a pin drop amongst them whenever the ball landed at the feet of Bale, clearly seen by the fans, players and Scottish mangement as the number one threat to their World Cup hopes.

Next page: Menacing moves

Inevitably the Spurs man was at the hub of Wales' most menacing moves in the first half, twice coming close himself with solo efforts early on - first when he struck a 25-yard half-volley over the bar, then when he cut inside Gary Caldwell and curled a magnificent effort centimetres past goalkeeper Allan McGregor's far post.

Get the ball out to Bale every time was clearly Wales' mantra, but there were already ominous signs at the other end of the pitch where recalled centre-forward Steven Fletcher was causing real problems in the air for Darcy Blake and Ashley Williams, and Coleman's holding midfield duo of Joe Allen and David Vaughan weren't doing their defensive duties properly as they failed to pick up the dangerous runs of James Morison.

Guess what, that's exactly how Scotland opened the scoring in the 27th minute as Wales had it rammed home to them what a very cruel game football can be at times. Coleman's side had come within a whisker of going a goal up themselves, Bale rampaging past the bewildered Daniel Fox down Scotland's left and whipping over a pinpoint cross which Steve Morison headed agonisingly wide.

Many Welsh fans had begun celebrating because they believed Morison had scored. Instead it was the other one, Scotland's West Brom version, who did. McGregor took the goal-kick, Fletcher won the flick-on, the onrushing Morrison wasn't picked up as he raced into the Welsh penalty box and, wham, bam, slam, one right-footed drive after the Scots were a goal up.

It was a cruel blow and Bale, in particular, certainly didn't deserve to be on the losing side. He quickly set about trying to ensure he wasn't with another storming run down the right, where Bale raced past two Scottish defenders, only for Ramsey to blaze wide from the Spurs man's exquisite cross.

To be honest, though, Scotland squandered an even better opportunity to double their lead shortly before the interval when Fletcher again set up an opening for an unmarked Morrison, but this time he failed to find the target and drilled over the bar.

Wales came out in the second half fired up, knowing it was win or bust at this stage for their Brazil 2014 hopes and that somehow they needed to go for the jugular and conjure up two goals. The frustrations appeared to get to Bale and Ramsey, who were each booked by German official Florian Meyer, the Spurs man for dissent and the Arsenal youngster for a bad foul on Alan Hutton.

By his standard, Ramsey wasn't having the greatest of games, perhaps summed up best in the manner he squandered Wales' best chance yet in the 68th minute. Davies sent the Arsenal man scampering clear of the Scottish defence with a deep ball over the top, but Ramsey hesitated, took one touch too many and ended up running the ball out for a goal-kick, instead of driving into the back of McGregor's net.

The breaks werene't going Wales' way, the driving rain was making conditions difficult, their need to send bodies forward was leaving them exposed at the back...but Coleman's men displayed true grit and kept battling away in search of the equaliser.

Then the fightback began. The first moment they were waiting for duly arrived 10 minutes from time, with no prizes for guessing how. Made by Gareth Bale, scored by Gareth Bale. There appeared no apparent danger as Wales' talisman gathered the ball 45 yards from goal, with nine bodies standing between him and McGregor. That didn't put Bale off, though. He put his head down, raced past four Scottish defenders, had his heels clipped and the referee pointed to the penalty spot.

Eight minutes on, Bale was at it once again, creating and scoring on his own. First he won a free kick after a horrendous challenge by his old nemesis Charlie Adam. Instead of being intimidated, Bale got up, dusted himself down, saw Adam in front of him and took him on again. Just as he got past his man, Bale then unleashed a ferocious left foot drive which flew high into the far corner of McGregor's net.

Sheer joy, sheer delirium. Suddenly the Tartan Army were quiet and only the Welsh fans were signing.

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